L. A. Paul, “Transformative Experience” (Oxford UP, 2014)
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What is the central problem L.A. Paul raises about transformative decisions?
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Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy Channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talese. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter Carrie is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today, my guest is Professor L A Paul. Her new book is titled Transformative Experience. It's just been published by Oxford University Press. LA Paul is Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a professorial fellow at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. We typically make decisions based on a projection of their likely outcome with respect to the things that we value. We seek to maximize or enhance the things we think are good and minimize what we think is bad.
But sometimes we are faced with a decision where we must choose whether to undergo an experience that will likely transform us in some fundamental ways. Perhaps even change our sense of what's valuable or important. Indeed, sometimes we must choose whether to, in effect, become a different kind of person. How should decisions like that be made? In transformative experience, LA Paul examines a range of cases where agents must choose whether or not to be transformed in fundamental ways that they, the agents, cannot grasp in advance of the transformation. As it turns out, Choices of this transformative kind are far more common than Then we might think that Transformative experience is a fascinating, sharply focused exploration of a common phenomenon that is surprisingly under theorized.
Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Lori Paul.
Hi Bob.
How are you doing today? Thank you for joining us on New Books in Philosophy.
Thanks for inviting for inviting me.
Sure. Uh and thank you, listeners, uh, for listening to the podcast. My guest today is L. A. Paul and we'll be talking about her new book, Transformative Experience, which is recently published by Oxford University Press. Now in this book, Lori explores choice making under the peculiar But as it turns out, not uncommon circumstance. Where the agent must choose whether or not to be transformed in some significant way. In these cases it looks as if our ordinary and intuitive models of rational choice and rationality more generally seem to run out. So how should we choose in these cases? This book is tightly focused. It's uh philosophically deep. Uh and there's a whole lot to talk about. Um but before we get into those details, uh Laurie, why don't you begin uh by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Okay. So um I entered philosophy really when I entered uh graduate school. I went to Princeton um for my uh PhD in philosophy and studied with David Lewis.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central problem L.A. Paul raises about transformative decisions?
0:00–7:46
2
How does the book define epistemically vs. personally transformative experiences?
7:46–16:31
3
What is the vampire thought‑experiment and why does it illustrate a decision problem?
16:31–23:57
4
How does the Mary (color‑scientist) case parallel the vampire scenario?
23:57–30:10
5
Why does becoming a parent count as a transformative experience?
30:10–36:30
6
What role does ‘revelation’ play in evaluating transformative choices?
36:30–43:30
7
How can decision‑theoretic models be adapted for transformative experiences?
43:30–49:34
8
What future research directions and open questions does the book suggest?
49:34–55:56
Speakers
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